


12. Strangers

by aimmyarrowshigh



Series: The Old Guard Drabbles [12]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drabble, Gen, M/M, Pre-Movie: The Old Guard (2020), maybe? - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26076775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aimmyarrowshigh/pseuds/aimmyarrowshigh
Summary: Strangers. For months before he sees the wraith across a field of blood and bodies in the Holy Land, Yusuf al-Kaysani dreamt of those eyes.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: The Old Guard Drabbles [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883827
Comments: 4
Kudos: 58





	12. Strangers

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by someone's comment -- I forget whose, and I'm sorry! -- on a meta post about the irredeemable violence of the Crusaders and how hard it would be for Yusuf to ever see Nicolo as anyone other than one of the invaders; someone commented that it would be easier, and in some ways maybe more interesting question mark? if they were not each others' first death, but their second (and third and fourth and etc.) and instead of first seeing Nicky as one of the Crusaders, Joe sees him as the man he's been dreaming of since he came back to life. I don't know whether that's specifically canon divergence or not, but I marked it anyway.

It happens like this: Yusuf al-Kaysani is tending his market stall when the wrong youths are upon him and the rock strikes his skull. 

He wakes alone, covered in too much blood, the best of his linens stolen and never to be returned. When he touches the back of his head, his fingers come away sticky. It's slimy, the piece of his brain that he fishes out of his hair.

He tells no one.

That night, he dreams of a pale-eyed Frankish priest bathed in cold sick-sweat, praying fervently to an absent god until his breath rattles to an end.


End file.
